What's Behind The Rise Of The Buminfluencer?

The bottom line: it's positively cheeky.

Apparently, there’s a new type of influencer out there on social media who has swept the scene gathering followers and likes in an epic display of zeigeisty-ness. Aligned and in-tune with our modern times and trends, they’re not making it big as a result of their magical words, sweeping vistas, or even good looks – no, curiously enough it’s actually their bum which is causing the righteous, social media fervour. Known as “buminfluener” or more colloquially “bumfluencer” they can be found in the native savanna of picture-oriented platforms usually, well, sticking their bum out.

The bum is most definitely out – in fact more than that, it’s taking centre stage.

One might wonder, when exactly did the bum become so culturally significant? For some it always has been, but it’s hard to refute that of late, it’s taken on a life of its own – I mean, people are out there getting bum implants at this very moment in time! It’s suddenly not just enough to have a toned bum, but one now needs to have a shapely, rotund one too.

When did it rise to popularity? Was it that 90s classic song, “I like big butts, and I cannot lie?” or was it the Kardashian phenomenon?

The six of those women have had a sizeable impact on societal trends – from wearing eyeshadow before midday, to making eyelash extensions the norm, through to their parlance “like”, “bible” and tone of voice entering ordinary lexicon. Has the butt been their greatest, or more sizeable of contributions?

(Image: Jean-Paul Goude/Paper)

Entering from the angle of '90s waifs like Kate Moss, the Kardashians made the voluptuous physique, and yes, the shapely bum not only acceptable but du jour and on trend. Perhaps the bum was always a thing, it just needed some influential champions to bring it back to the arena in a position of prominence, even dominance, one would say.

Back to these buminfluencers. You know the ones, they have accounts devoted to their bums. They’re hard to ignore, and even harder to not like – after all, why wouldn’t one like the humble bum?

Not so humble anymore, I guess.

Alongside the buminfluencers are a whole heap of hashtags you could also be using to categorise your own bum – some are self-explanatory like #bum (clearly), or #bumshot, others are slightly more heinous like #asstastic – and then there are whole movements out there devoted to the bum, like #glitterbum.

Did you know people are bejewelling and glittering their bottoms and then taking snaps of said physical art work? Indeed, they are, there’s a veritable array of decorations going on. Gone are the vijazzling days, usurped unceremoniously by the bum-jazzling.

A shift in culture has occurred. The bottom was overlooked in days gone by, now it’s back and with a vengeance. The bum is the fake-boobs of the eighties, across genders, and unhindered by binary groupings.